Sabathia, Matsui Dominating over Mariners

We have Mr. October and Mr. November. We need a Mr. August, and that person should be CC Sabathia. Sabathia extended his August dominance to 31-9 in his last 49 starts in the month of August last night in a 11-1 beatdown of the Seattle Mariners.

Derek Jeter homered in his second at-bat. Batting clean-up, Hideki Matsui had his fourth career two-home run game and a season-high five RBIs and Sabathia struck out a season-high 10.

Without A-Rod (elbow) and Posada (finger) in the lineup, that didn’t stop the Bombers. They rolled on, winning for the 10th time in 11 games to increase their lead in the AL East over the Red Sox back to 6 1/2 games.

Recently acquired Jerry Hairston Jr. again proved to be an invaluable fill-in with a double, single and two RBIs subbing for Rodriguez at third base.

Matsui celebrated his temporary return to the cleanup spot with his 18th and 19th home runs. Per PeteAbe, asked if he loves batting fourth, which he’s done 15 times this season to Rodriguez’s 82, Matsui said: “I don’t hate it.”

Matsui hit his second two-run homer in the eighth. This one barely eluded the reach of Ichiro Suzuki.